The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority agreed at its open Authority
meeting today to review a range of its sperm, egg and embryo donation polices
over the course of the next year.

The policies to be reviewed include:

the upper age limit of male donors and whether to bring it into line with
professional guidelines and the lower age limit for female donors due to potential
health risks relating to egg donation

the 10 family limit

the reimbursement of donors for expenses and loss of earnings

egg sharing which will be reviewed together with the reimbursement of donors

The Authority agreed that further consideration should be given to:

intra-familial and inter-generational donation

cross border treatment

whether donors should be allowed to restrict donation to certain patient
groups

Professor Lisa Jardine, Chair of the HFEA said:

" The Authority had a rewarding and well informed debate across
a wide range of important issues and arrived at some significant decisions.
I welcome the fact that we are now beyond the implementation of the new legislation
and can address issues which have implications for all of our stakeholders.

There was a general view that the HFEA's policy with regard to
reimbursement for donors. which has now been in place for two years since
the introduction of the European Tissue and Cell Directive, was one that could
usefully be revisited in light of what we have learned over those two years.
We will not prejudge the outcome of the review that will now take place.?

Note about the source of this item: The HFEA is
the UK government's independent regulator for IVF treatment and embryo research.
Their role is to protect patients and the public interest, to drive improvement
in
the
treatment
and research sectors and to provide information to the public and policymakers
about treatment and research. The HFEA was set up in August 1991 as part of the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act (UK Law), 1990. The HFEA's principal
tasks are to license and monitor
clinics that carry out in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination (DI)
and human embryo research. The HFEA also regulates the storage of gametes (eggs
and sperm) and embryos.

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in the article above are not necessarily those of IvyRose Ltd.. Material in
this news item was released by the UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority
(HFEA) on 09 December 2009
and may have been edited (e.g. in style, length, and/or for ease of understanding
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